Breakdown of Wegen der hohen Nachfrage sind die Rohstoffe sehr knapp.
sein
to be
sehr
very
hoch
high
wegen
because of
die Nachfrage
the demand (economic, market)
knapp
scarce
der Rohstoff
the raw material
Questions & Answers about Wegen der hohen Nachfrage sind die Rohstoffe sehr knapp.
How would you express this using a weil clause instead of wegen?
To use weil, you need a full subordinate clause with a subject and a conjugated verb at the end. You could say: Weil die Nachfrage so hoch ist, sind die Rohstoffe sehr knapp. The prepositional phrase wegen der hohen Nachfrage (because of the high demand) is a more concise, nominalized way to express the exact same cause, which is very common in B2-level written German.
Why is the phrase der hohen Nachfrage used here?
The preposition wegen requires the genitive case in standard German. Because Nachfrage is feminine (die Nachfrage), the definite article changes to der. The adjective hoch takes the standard genitive ending -en, becoming hohen. Notice also that the adjective hoch drops its 'c' whenever an ending is added.
Why does the verb sind come before the subject die Rohstoffe?
This is a great refresher on the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire prepositional phrase Wegen der hohen Nachfrage counts as a single block occupying Position 1 in the sentence. The conjugated verb sind must sit in Position 2, which forces the subject die Rohstoffe to move into Position 3.
Could I use selten instead of knapp here to mean scarce?
No, because they have distinct meanings. knapp means scarce or in short supply, implying there is not enough of something to meet the current demand (like resources, time, or money). selten means rare or uncommon, referring to things that are just hard to find in general, like a rare stamp or a rare bird.
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